Silk & Shadows

One of the unfortunate truths about being an author is that one has far less time to read. Crazy, yes? Happily, I’ve discovered that one way I can get my “reading” done is through audiobooks. I’ve always got one or more on the go for walking to and from work, the gym, and while doing housework. It’s one of the few multitasking situations that actually work for me, and I get through at least twice as many books (probably more) than I otherwise could manage.

Here are a few I enjoyed during our S&S summer break:

Karen Marie Moning: Shadowfever (hardcover) And To Tame a Highland Warrior (audiobook) This pairing is especially interesting because everything about these books is so different. The writing style at the end of the Fae series is sharp, short, and almost dry—perfect for the development of the heroine. The Highlander book is just the opposite, and it’s equally perfect. Moning really is a writer for all occasions.

Jeaniene Frost Halfway to the Grave (paperback) This was a reread. I enjoyed it the first time around and maybe even more the second. I have no idea whether anyone else thinks this, but to me her vampire hero, Bones, bears a marked resemblance to Spike in Buffy. Let’s just say you don’t hear me complaining.

Christopher Moore Practical Demonkeeping (audiobook) If you haven’t read Moore and like things slightly weird, he’s a treat. I go for a fix whenever I start taking life a bit too seriously. But don’t let him fool you – there’s often a surprising amount of human truth at the bottom of his bizarre episodes.

Jes Battis A Flash of Hex (paperback) I love this series for a lot of reasons, but a big one is that it’s set in Vancouver and I recognize a lot of the landmarks. It’s also a cut above so many of the books that try to be paranormal police procedurals. The characters are quirky, the crimes icky, and the science imaginative. They’re the sort of books that make Sunday afternoons disappear.

George RR Martin A Game of Thrones (audiobook). What can I say? Pet wolves and swords with names. I’m a happy girl.

Don’t forget: Comment on any Silk And Shadows post this week. Jess is giving away a copy of Erin Kellison’s SHADOW BOUND!

Currently working on: Sorting through my TBR mountain
Mood: Earthquaky

With all the traveling I did this summer, I didn’t get as much reading done as I wanted to. Of course, I NEVER get as much reading done as I want to. My once-upon-a-time-reasonable To Be Read stack has become a pile, and then two piles, and then a mountain, and now it’s a mountain on the verge of sliding down on my head. But I did manage to pluck a few new reads from the threatening collapse.

SHADOW TOUCH by Erin Kellison

I’d had Erin Kellison’s SHADOW BOUND in my TBR pile for ages, but never even had the chance to start it. After I roomed with her at Authors After Dark in Philadelphia, I felt soooo guilty. (Note to self: You should never sleep with an author whose books you haven’t read.) So when I got home, I dug through the mountain… and kicked myself for not having read it earlier! There is the dark and tortured hero, who of course I love, and there’s the heroine who is much more than she is willing to admit, and there’s a world one step from the edge of darkness.

After I finished SHADOW BOUND, I immediately went out and snagged SHADOW TOUCH. This ebook novella is a great introduction to the world of the Segue Institute, where desperate people are working round the clock to save the world from the dark forces of the wraiths. (And when last I checked, SHADOW TOUCH is FREE at Amazon!)

SEDUCE ME IN DREAMS by Jacquelyn Frank

Sometimes I find an author whose list of books is long enough that adding them to my TBR mountain could send the whole thing into a deadly slide. But if you haven’t read Jacquelyn Frank’s Nightwalker books and need a jump in where you aren’t so far behind, you can start with the excellent new Three Worlds books. SEDUCE ME IN DREAMS is the first of these hot, futuristic, military heroes.

I fell in love with futuristic romances decades ago with Ann Maxwell’s FIRE DANCER series, but futuristics with a strong love story can be hard to find. This series has love — and sex! — in spades. Happy sigh!

WILD AND STEAMY by Meljean Brook, Jill Myles & Carolyn Crane

These are more novellas and in ebook only format too, but they were so fun I had to include them here. I downloaded the ebook for one of the many plane rides I had to take this year and it made the interminable airport wait actually pleasant. Such is the power of a good book.

Meljean Brook’s has a story from her Iron Duke world, Jill Myles has a sexy shapeshifter menage, and Carolyn Crane checks in with a wonderful, twisty noir story from her Disillusionists series. The stories felt very different from each other, which was interesting in an anthology and perfect for the chaotic vibe of an airport. If you sit down to read it in more comfortable surroundings that don’t include overhead speakers announcing your flight has been delayed — again — then you will find something in this book for several different moods.

What was on your summer reading list? Report in on any Silk And Shadows post this week. I’ll be giving away a copy (not MY copy, of course) of Erin Kellison’s SHADOW BOUND that I stole from her at AAD. (Note to self: Room with more authors whose books you haven’t read so you have an excuse to buy more books.)

Differences make us interesting! Here are ten things you probably don’t know about me.

1. I never suffer from writer’s block.
2. My favorite non-writing, non-research website is www.thepioneerwoman.com
3. I love seaweed salad.
4. I need to lose fifteen pounds (probably because of The Pioneer Woman).
5. For several years, I lived in Central America (Panama).
6. I despise litterbugs.
7. Paintings and photographs can make me cry, because of their beauty, poignancy–or their ugliness.
8. My favorite fingernail polish color is OPI’s I’m Not Really a Waitress. (Although I’ve renamed it: I’m Not Really a Legal Assistant).
9. The very first book I remember reading as a child was Noisy Nora, by Rosemary Wells: “‘I am leaving!’ shouted Nora, ‘And I am never coming back!’ But no one heard anything except a tra la la from Jack.”
My mother bought the book to help me with the transition of having a new baby brother.
10. I am secretly addicted to candy corn. At the moment.

What are ten things I don’t know about you?

When you are a writer in the midst of a project, everything in the wide universe relates to writing. This past weekend I was left in charge of feeding my friend’s two cats. Yes, somehow I managed to make this all about my book because the Work In Progress, as every writer knows, is the very hub of the solar system.

One of these fluffy felines (they’re both built on the dandelion-puff model of fur styling) has the yowl of a sumo wrestler. She also has the fastidious food preferences of a dyspeptic restaurant reviewer. When presented with dinner, she either screeches like I’m attempting murder or turns her back with a sniff of disdain. Yes, thinks I, she’s just like certain individuals posting on book-related web sites. Nothing pleases.

To raise the stakes, my understanding this past Saturday was that the anti-food campaign had been going on for some time. “Great,” I say to myself. “It would just be my luck if Miss Mew keeled over on my watch, accusations of cruel starvation to follow.” I could see my future: All the other cats would be laughing behind their paws as I was carted off in manacles, branded as the Cruella de Ville for kitties.

And hence the gauntlet was thrown down. The wretched furball simply had to give in and eat before I strangled her.

If all else fails, there is bribery. I noted that the rattle of the treat bag perked her right up, so I did the only thing I could think of. I stuck a treat in her food dish, burying some of it beneath the squishy food so she had to eat her way down if she wanted to get it.

She did.

So I stuck another treat in, burying this one a little deeper.

And she ate her way down to this one, too, forgetting herself enough to have a few extra mouthfuls along the way. What seemed to happen, though, was that she easily lost track of what she was doing. Distracted, she’d forget to eat until I rattled the treats, bringing her back to the task at hand. Only as long as I was on the job, tempting her to the next mouthful, would she keep going. But, with us working together, she cleaned her dish for the first time in ages.

When I came back the next day, we carried on with the same routine, and she ate everything again. The secret was that she needed frequent incentives.

Which brings me back to the Work in Progress, as it relates to a bowl of cat food. “Eureka!” I think, jumping up and down. “We writers need to bury treats in every scene! That means action, sexual tension, hooks, story questions and all the thrills and spills we can dream up packed in there thick and fast. Riddle the prose with payoffs galore! Readers will eagerly consume everything in between!”

Which seems obvious now that I say it, but a brain beleaguered by the dreaded WIP is a little dim.

I just hope my prose smells better than raw fish.

Currently working on: Revisions
Mood: Persnickety

I’ve been in a funny place recently. Not just a place-place as I mentioned in last Monday’s travelogue, but in my writing. I’ve been all over the map — literally and metaphorically — and it is time I settled down to ONE thing.

This is a good time of year (in this part of the world anyway) to settle to a project. The weather is closing in. School has started and focused energy is all around. Even my garden reflects the need to pick. It’s harvest time!

But how do I pick my next project?

1. Flip a coin.

I’m not being flip when I say this. I find that flipping a coin helps me refine my preferences. If I flip and the answer comes up that I want, sweet. If the coin says I should choose some other thing… well, suddenly I realize that thing isn’t the thing I wanted. So I switch. After all, I don’t have to abide by the decisions of a coin.

2. Try a few things on for size.

Like new school clothes, the right story need to fit me this year; not have too many holes; and reflect the writer I’m trying to become. And if it is purple and sparkly, that’d be cool too.

3. Ask my sounding board.

Sometimes I can’t decide. But when I talk out my options with someone else, often I start talking myself into a choice, even if my listener never gets a chance to speak. (That happens around me occasionally.) Even if I can’t hear an answer coming into focus, the other person will no doubt have an opinion (other people always do). I guess this technique is very similar to the first technique except most people don’t appreciate being flipped.

If you haven’t read Malcolm Gladwell’s BLINK, I highly recommend it. He talks a lot about the power of instinct in decision making. Then you can read THINK by Michael R. LeGault, who prefers a more rationed approach. They provide some interesting points/counterpoints. Do you have favorite ways of making choices?

Note: Speaking of picking, we’ll be pulling a giveaway winner from our newsletter subscribers soon.
If you haven’t signed up yet, use the link at left.

First off I have to say, I woke up to the most beautiful thing this morning. I live in Texas, and we are experiencing the worst drought of our recorded history, with fires and dying trees and fish/animals, etc. This morning, we have (at least where I live) rain. Bliss! More please!

Now to my regularly scheduled post.

EMPATHY: it’s defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as this:

The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner; also : the capacity for this.

How many of you have noticed a lack of empathy in the people around you? At work, in the elevator, in traffic, in the store? There are so many who don’t seem to have the ability to understand what others are experiencing, and the ability to care about it? There’s a lot of apathy and even cruelty out there.

And how many of you saw the article this month discussed in the news, about how reading fiction instills empathy in young people?

This has always been an obvious thing to me. Reading is a way of putting someone else on for size, someone who doesn’t think or believe the same way you do. If you’re here reading this blog, you are most likely a reader and a lover of books. Many of you may have kids (or friends, or co-workers). If so, you may be hearing a lot of “…but I don’t want to read. I don’t like it. BORING!”

I’ve got a nine and thirteen year old. I also feel compelled to let you know we have a PS3 and three televisions.

Both kids were certain they did not like reading. I want you to know, it took me several years but I successfully brainwashed them (entirely against their will!) into being book lovers. As a result, I’ve got two kids that aren’t perfect, but they are softer and kinder towards the people around them. They make an effort to understand and respect others’ feelings–even if they don’t agree with them. I think reading has an enormous impact on making friends, appreciating differences, and also lessens the urge to “bully”.

I don’t want to be preachy, but if you have kids who don’t want to read, don’t give up! Pick a great book, and read a chapter out loud to them every night. Have them read to you. If you’ve got them during the daytime, have an hour where you shut off the television, and everyone gets a pillow and a comfy place and reads. It’s an investment of time, but like all investments, you get a nice return.

Heartfelt lecture over. What’s everyone reading this week, and do you want to make any recommendations? I’m reading Erin Morgenstern’s THE NIGHT CIRCUS and also Maya Bank’s IN BED WITH A HIGHLANDER. (My son is reading Mockingjay, and my daughter, a Nancy Drew book).

I left off just before the Silk and Shadows summer vacation with a trip to New York and the RWA National Conference. That was tons of fun, especially since I got to take home a chunk of shiny gold statue aka the RITA® award for paranormal romance.

Then I came home and got back to work. I had promised a Dark Forgotten novella to an anthology, and that somehow hadn’t written itself in the meantime. Those who know me know how I hate to write shorter pieces, so much grumbling and whining and eventually working happened. 23,000 words later, the kvetching turned to a sigh of happy ending. Stay tuned for more on this little bon-bon as the autumn rolls around.

While all that was going on, I had summer visitors and carpenters, not necessarily in that order. New kitchen shelving, yay!

And then it was a return to regularly scheduled programming, which for me is chugging away at longer pieces of prose while simultaneously dodging housework and bored cats. What am I working on? A few things at once, which is usual for me, but I’m feeling the need to settle down soon and really make tracks on a paranormal romance. Part of my vacation has been giving myself the freedom to write whatever I felt like for a few weeks, explore some new techniques, and expand my skills. Hopefully, what I produce next will show a bit of that.

Guilty pleasure of the summer? I watched MasterChef. I’m a closet foodie, and was totally fascinated by what the contestants could come up with from seemingly random ingredients.

Yeah, I know the shows are probably pretty scripted, but I have to admit to getting sucked into the drama. What’s summer for if not to switch off the critical brain and simply enjoy?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation
By Jessa Slade

My summer started with a family road trip to bury my grandfather with full military honors at Arlington Cemetery. He has a lovely spot next to an apple tree with a peek-a-boo view of the Washington Monument.

Although the reason for our gathering was somber, we had a wonderful reunion with the whole clan where we spent several days at a cottage on a back channel of Chesapeake Bay, harassing the blue crabs and eating Maryland Madness ice cream (lemon ice cream with raspberry swirl, chocolate chips and white chocolate; yes, sounds like madness, but tastes like summer).

Speaking of tastes of summer, I returned home to the first cucumbers of the season. Being a lazy homemaker, I invented this great pickle recipe:

• Take 1 cucumber.
• Slice it thin.
• Put it in an empty jar of store-bought pickle juice.
• Let sit for three days.
• Eat.

This only works two or three times before you leach all the flavor from the pickle juice. As lazy recipes go, I think I’ve hit a new personal low.

The pickle juice had only just gone bland when I departed for two reader conventions: RomCon in Denver was a laff riot with events like Build-A-Hero (pictured below, where I contributed the rippling abs, thankyewthankyewverymuch) and Authors After Dark in Philadelphia.

AAD, which is geared specifically for paranormal readers, is in NEW ORLEANS next year! On Bourbon Street! A seven minute walk from Cafe Du Monde beignets! You’re coming too, right?

Scarcely had I returned home (again) when I left (again) on a long weekend writing retreat up in Washington state.

To prove I was working reeeelly hard (shuh, right):

And now I am back at my computer (again) ready to work hard (really, this time). As a welcome home present — to you! – we’re giving away some book treasures from my travels and from some of my favorite book friends.

At the end of the week, Random.org will choose a winner from our newsletter subscribers. If you are already subscribed, just say hey. If you aren’t signed up yet, you can do that from the upper left corner, right up there, see it? One winner will get a party pack of Laurie London, Erin Kellison and Elisabeth Naughton. And I bet I can find some goodies for two more winners too, so go sign up.

We’re glad to be back! How about you? Eager for the change of seasons, or are you clinging to summer with both hands and all ten summer-pedicured toes?